ROAD TO COACHELLA: BMW I SENDS 15 INFLUENCERS ON A CONTENT CREATION JOURNEY

Riding on the heels of its successful Road to Coachella campaign in 2017, BMW i put its show on the road once again this year to drive awareness of its i Series electric and hybrid vehicles, reach new audiences and engage the creative, passionate (and eco-friendly) demographic Coachella tends to attract. The brand’s presence reached far and wide, encompassing an artist partnership, a robust influencer program and two special events. It was the second year BMW i served as an official sponsor of the festival.

This year’s Road to Coachella program centered on BMW’s partnership with John Gourley, co-founder and lead singer of one of the festival’s most highly anticipated performing bands, Portugal. The Man, and an accomplished visual artist. Gourley was enlisted to create a one-of-a-kind design that was wrapped around each car in the BMW i Coachella fleet. The artist’s creative process, including the reveal of the wrapped vehicles, was documented on the brand’s social channels to give digital fans a taste of the action.

In addition to Gourley, BMW partnered with 15 influencers from around the world, including Kellan Lutz and Dorothy Wang, to share their own Road to Coachella journey in one of the custom-wrapped BMW i8s. The tastemakers documented their entire road trip, stopping at iconic locations along the way and, of course, sharing the content with millions of followers.

“There is perhaps no more quintessentially American experience than the road trip—your favorite music, a great car and the open road have always gone perfectly together,” says Tim Rittenhouse, experiential marketing manager at BMW of North America. “In the same way that a great song can trigger emotions, driving the ultimate driving machine can do the same. This emotional connection was the foundation for developing our Road to Coachella campaigns.”

SEE BMW i’S PARTNERSHIP WITH JOHN GOURLEY COME TO LIFE:

The brand also teamed up with lifestyle company The h.wood Group to deliver two large-scale events that collectively drew 6,000 attendees: Poppy’s BMW i Powered Paradise and Poppy’s BMW i Recharge Oasis, both of which took place at a sprawling estate just outside the festival grounds. As guests arrived at each event, they were met with a fleet of the wrapped i Series vehicles, and invited to hop in for the first shareable moment of the night.

Other share-worthy engagements across the events included a neon art installation featuring a metal BMW i3 frame traced with neon flex lighting, a neon photo booth experience with the new BMW i8 Roadster that could be shared instantly, and a custom-wrapped claw machine game. Prizes in the machine included custom-designed bandanas created by Gourley, four of which also had a hidden key to a BMW i8. The four lucky winners who clawed their way to the coveted key earned an extended weekend test drive of the Roadster.

In addition to myriad photo ops, the events also included performances by Diplo, Travis Scott and Lil Wayne, to name a few, and attracted a host of celebrities including Rihanna, Gigi Hadid, The Weekend and Paris Hilton. Other touchpoints included the unveiling of Kylie Jenner’s new makeup collection, ‘KOURT X KYLIE,’ as well as the launch of Kendall Jenner’s Pizza Boys Radio program on Apple Music’s Beats 1.

“The second chapter of our Road to Coachella campaign really developed beyond our initial expectations,” says Rittenhouse. “Not only was John’s design unique and eye catching, throughout the week at Coachella we had the opportunity to work alongside some amazing celebrities and creators to capture and share their Coachella experience.” Agency: Mirrored Media, Santa Monica, CA.

CRUISE THROUGH SCENES FROM THE ROAD TO COACHELLA CAMPAIGN:

BizBash recently looked at 34 of the best activations at and around Coachella. BMW i’s Road to Coachella not only made the cover, but was covered as two of the best activations around Coachella this year. Read the whole article HERE.

Music lovers, millennials, and influencers—as well as the brands trying to reach them—flocked to the first weekend of Goldenvoice’s Coachella Music and Arts Festival, held from April 13 through 16 at the Empire Polo Club. With more parties than any individual could possibly attend in a single weekend, brands used a variety of tactics to entice guests to attend their events.

Securing high-profile performers remained a popular go-to for many hosts, while an emphasis on wellness-centered offerings emerged as an increasingly popular trend this year. Other brands sought to upgrade festivalgoers’ experience on the polo fields with exclusive lounges and customization opportunities.

Here are 34 of the cleverest activations, entertainment, and decor ideas that popped up everywhere from swanky Palm Springs estates to branded tents on the festival grounds.

The automotive company partnered with experiential marketing firm Mirrored Media for a campaign that saw 15 BMW i8 and i3’s wrapped in a colorful custom design created by Portugal the Man’s John Gourley. Social-media influencers then drove the iFleets to the festival, sharing their road trip with followers along the way.

Mirrored Media is excited to announce that our BMW Road to Coachella campaign has made it to the finals of the 2018 Ex Awards. The best experiential campaigns in the world will be named May 14 in San Francisco.

For more than 15 years, the Ex Awards has remained the largest recognition program for best-in-class experiential marketing. This year’s finalists, just unveiled, represent the most innovative brands and agencies in the industry.

The editors of Event Marketer have announced this year’s Ex Awards finalists, the 2018 best experiential marketing campaigns in the world. Entries this year broke all previous records—more than 1,000 were received from all over the world and there were more tie-breaks during scoring than ever before. One judge may have said it best: “This was the best work ever entered into the Ex Awards and the hardest year to win… ever.”

The Ex Awards is still the only marketing recognition program on the planet judged entirely by client-side judges—more than two-dozen scored entries over the last three weeks.

Mirrored Media’s CEO, Justin Lefkovitch, is a guest speaker for Event Marketer’s Guide to Festival Marketing Conference. Justin spoke at the live event about festival shareability and how brands can extend their reach through offline and online activations. Make sure to tune in! Register and tune in HERE.

From the world’s most respected resource on experiential marketing comes The Event Marketer’s Guide to Festival Marketing 2018, a free online conference designed to equip you with the intelligence you need to:

• CHOOSE THE RIGHT FESTIVAL PLATFORM
Learn tips and takeaways for determining if festivals are right for you, and where your brand fits in among an ever-expanding list of festivals.

• ENGAGE TODAY’S FESTIVAL ATTENDEES
Understand what festival attendees crave most, and learn how you can engage them in meaningful—and memorable—ways.

• EXTEND SPONSORSHIP REACH
Hear from the event pros that have mastered the art of executing shareable engagements designed specifically for festival crowds.AGENDA:

1:15 pm – 1:45 pm ET Festivals and Shareability: Extending Your Reach
If it didn’t happen on social media, it didn’t happen. Learn how to extend the reach of your festival sponsorship by:

THERE’S MORE! Access digital Q&As with speakers, a networking area for peer-to-peer chats, a resource center with articles and case studies plus top industry partners. Register today before we sell out all available digital seats.

Mirrored Media is excited to announce that our BMW Road to Coachella campaign has been announced as a finalist in the automotive category of the AME Awards. The AME awards is the only award show to recognize excellence in advertising and marketing effectiveness on a global scale. AME Awards honors work that demonstrates ground-breaking solutions to challenging marketing problems across the globe. The competition is judged by top industry experts from all over the world. The first two rounds of judging is divided by region. This allows all entries to be reviewed in its social, economic, and cultural context to determine the Shortlist and Medalists. Winning campaigns address a challenge in the marketplace, with the creation of a thorough marketing plan to deliver a successful execution, and utilizing outstanding creative elements; they exhibit specific objectives accomplished through creative execution and strategic planning.

Below is more information on the AME awards and our fellow finalists.

“Since 1994, the AME Awards has honored campaigns from around that globe that are not only creative, but successfully demonstrate innovative solutions to challenging marketing problems. This year’s standout Shortlisted entries represent ground-breaking creative work that has achieved measurable results on behalf of the brand,” said Michael Demetriades, President and Executive Director of the AME Awards.

Innovative ideas placed brands out front and helped achieve measurable market share including such cutting-edge tactics as a talking store, snow tweets in the Alps, and tattoo ink created from motorcycle burn-out carbon. Brave New World Communications Pvt. Ltd. India’s Shortlisted campaign’s “THE HEART OF THE HIGHWAY – The World’s First Talking Store” for client The Roadster Life Co. featured a talking store, with a unique first-person voice, that reached out to shoppers creating the effect of personal interaction delivered by interactive in-store tech including custom software, digital façade, interactive and multiTaction touch screens, augmented reality green-screen, immersive VR and virtual shopping screens. Results included a 70% revenue spike in high-value apparel categories.

Heimat Werbeagentur GmHB “Snowdrawings” for Swisscom, sponsor of the Swiss Ski team, wanted to be more than a logo and create a benefit for ski fans and showcase their extensive network. The telecommunications provider utilized a remote cheering app that allowed fans to send supporting tweets to the ski team and have them written next to the race track in the snowy slopes of the Alps. The tweets were visible for 2 miles and were created using automated snow blower-bots. Results—26 million impressions, 4 million video views and over 20 km of written messages in the snow.

Team One Los Angeles, “Inking Our Mark on Motorcycle Culture” regained market share for Indian Motorcycles by leveraging a brand-first lifestyle media partnership and the world’s-first tattoo production technique formulated from the burn-out carbon from Motocross legend Carey Hart’s Indian Motorcycle. The process of making the ink and tattooing Carey were presented in a video along with a six-page custom print advertorial for Inked and offering a limited-edition run of Indian Motorcycle Ink™ in select biker-focused tattoo parlors nationwide resulted in the ink being sold out in a week. With zero paid traffic to Indian’s website, the results include 82% new visitors who spent an average 59% more time and visited 7% more pages than other visitors in the same period reinforcing success in generating qualified conquest leads. Indian went from 7th to 2nd most purchased motorcycle brand in the U.S.

Branded Entertainment repositioned brands and increased brand affinity, Shortlisted entries include Zulu Alpha Kilo Canada’s campaign “Common Ground” for their docu-series that followed riders from around the globe on a trip across Canada for Harley-Davidson Canada. Discovery Channel picked up the series as a primetime special, increasing Harley’s market share. PHD China’s “Panamera O2O Brand Repositioning” for client Porsche re-launched the Panamera through an integrated sponsorship with the immensely popular series “Ode to Joy” making it better-aligned government and cultural climate and consumer needs and wants. Starcom Saudi Arabia’s “ALJ Toyota After Sales” for client ALJ Toyota created an animated web series for YouTube portraying the day-to-day life of a Saudi citizen. The film showcased ALJ after sale and maintenance services resulting in 94% change in brand perception with 49% increase in service appointments.

HBO Multicultural Marketing “The HeLa Project” was launched as a lead up to the premiere of HBO’s film, “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.” The multi-day, multi-city, multi-media, travelling art installation consisted of a unique, impactful collective of artisans and thought-leaders from the African-American community. Touring activation resulted in 182 million media impressions. Oprah, the film’s star, promoted the film through promotional channels, including her social media accounts, a promotional press tour that included the cover of an Essence cover and hosting a junket for black female journalists (#blackgirlmagic), and show appearances. Over 6,500 guests attended, 77% of guests were more likely to watch “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks”.

Campaigns created to raise awareness for causes, or social and civic issues advanced. Shortlisted campaigns include: Dentsu Jayme Syfu Philippines guerilla campaign “Dead Whale” for client Greenpeace. The agency mounted a 73-foot decomposing “Dead Whale” installation on the shores of one of the most polluted cities in the Philippines during the 2017 ASEAN Summit. When examined closer, the whale was made entirely of plastic wastes collected from the ocean. The results—over 100 million impressions internationally and it caught the attention of ASEAN leaders, which put Coastal and Marine Protection in the proposal for the next Summit. Heimat Werbeagentur GmHB Germany’s Shortlisted campaign “A New Way of Thinking” for Free Democrats created a game-changing election campaign to reach and activate young voters and bridging the gap between the Liberal party and the voters. The digital campaign resulted in a comeback for the Liberal party.

Entries utilizing Sponsorships raised awareness for brands and connected them with target audiences. Shortlisted entries include: QIYI China’s “Rising! Chinese Hip-hop” for client McDonald’s China connected McDonald’s with millennials via food and music creating The Rap of China, the first internet-based hip-hop contest. Havas San Francisco “Citrix & Red Bull Racing: This Is How the Future Works” for client Citrix. The campaign repositioned Citrix as a thought leader in the future of work, leveraging their high-profile partnership with the Red Bull Racing Formula 1 team and showcasing what Citrix can bring to any IT customer relationship. GMR Marketing “Lincoln Financial Group Presents: The Game Plan” for client Lincoln Financial leveraged their Philadelphia Eagles partnership to showcase best practices for financial planning by following a day in the life of players and illustrating that Lincoln Financial is a partner who will help them take charge of their financial future.

Social platforms created buzz for brands resulting in measurable gains in market share along with Shortlist status. Grabarz & Partner Werbeagentur GmbH Germany’s “Laughing Horses” Volkswagen showcased the product benefits of the Trailer Assist, illustrating the stress of parking while someone is watching. This funny social video featuring laughing horses mocking a frustrated driver trying to park his trailer became the best performing German Volkswagen video with 40 million views. Other Shortlisted entries include: Team One USA “Platforms of Expression for a Shareworthy Life” for Lexus IS; TBWA\ Singapore “Justice Bao and The Missing Travel Insurance” for Singapore Tourism Board; Saudi Ministry of Health “Diabetes Monster” for Diabetes McCann New York “The Sound of Priceless” Mastercard; Al Jazeera Qatar “#DemandPressFreedom by Al Jazeera” for www.aljazeera.com; Brave New World Communications Pvt. Ltd. India “Once Upon a Highway” The Roadster Life Co.; and Mediacorp PTE Ltd. “Letter to My Son” for Mediacorp.

The medal round is underway and AME’s Grand Jury awards Gold, Silver, and Bronze to the highest scoring entries through two rounds of regional judging to ensure scoring accounts for cultural and economic relevance. Gold-winning work from all regions is judged by the full international Grand Jury to determine a Platinum Award for each of the five regions (North America, Latin America, Europe, Middle East & Africa and Asia Pacific) and the International Grand AME Award.

About the AME Awards® for Advertising & Marketing Effectiveness™: Founded in 1994, the AME Awards honors international work that demonstrates ground-breaking solutions to challenging marketing problems. To earn a coveted AME® Award, an entry must exhibit specific marketing goals and objectives accomplished through creative execution and strategic planning. Entries are judged by an international panel of top interactive and multidisciplinary marketers, media planners, strategy directors, social media experts, and creative directors.

Mirrored Media is proud to announce that it has won a 2017 Summit International Emerging Media Award with AwesomenessTV for the Vidcon ball pit. This is the second year in a row that Mirrored Media has taken home an Emerging Media award.

2017 Emerging Media Awards:

Awesomeness Ball Pit Presented by Live.me:

This one-of-a-kind custom ball pit activation featured an 8’x10′ pit with 20,000 balls in branded colors of teal pink, and purple. It offered a unique shareable photo element in which users were captured in slow-mo video from a truss above as they free fall backwards into the pit. The branded video content can then be shared through two iPad stations instantly via all social media platforms. The pit and truss were each covered in co-branded signage from Awesomeness and Live.me.

The ball pit also featured a live stream presented presented by Live.me, including a TV on site so fans in line could watch the action as they waited. Guests were also encouraged to download the Live.me app if they didn’t have it already, which gave them access to a VIP fast lane into the pit.

– 1600 Videos Captured

– Total Reach of 166,000 People

– 34K via Facebook

– 60K via Instagram

– 72K via Tumblr

Emerging Media Awards Recognizing Visionaries in Our New Forms of Media The Summit Emerging Media Award evolved through a need to recognize and celebrate creativity, innovation, and those pushing the bounds of creative excellence in all newer forms of emerging media. Traditionally, advertising has focused strictly on the big idea. Today, advertising needs to break new ground to keep up with the ever-changing pace. This award recognizes communications that keep pace with our times through innovative use of new media. Compete on a global stage, with an international panel of judges and creative from all over the world.This award is for the marketers, coders, designers, developers, innovators, visionaries and leaders in this exciting new realm of advertising.

Mirrored Media is proud to announce that it has won a 2017 Summit International Emerging Media Award with BMW. This is the second year in a row that Mirrored Media has taken home an Emerging Media award.

2017 Emerging Media Awards:

This first-of-its-kind partnership paired renowned composer and producer Hans Zimmer with BMW i to create an artistic and visually-inspiring content piece featuring an original score by Zimmer himself along with a cast of Coachella and influencer cameos. The concept was unique in that it gave BMW the opportunity to create an open dialogue with its target audience while also fostering a narrative around why BMW partnered with Coachella. The campaign told the story of the partnership while blending multiple forms of art including music, film, photography, and automobiles across multiple genres. The success of the campaign allowed BMW to focus on a new lifestyle line of marketing that has now changed the direction of its 2018 efforts going forward.

Emerging Media Awards Recognizing Visionaries in Our New Forms of Media The Summit Emerging Media Award evolved through a need to recognize and celebrate creativity, innovation, and those pushing the bounds of creative excellence in all newer forms of emerging media. Traditionally, advertising has focused strictly on the big idea. Today, advertising needs to break new ground to keep up with the ever-changing pace. This award recognizes communications that keep pace with our times through innovative use of new media. Compete on a global stage, with an international panel of judges and creative from all over the world.This award is for the marketers, coders, designers, developers, innovators, visionaries and leaders in this exciting new realm of advertising.

“Congratulations to Cablefax’s4th annual class of Overachievers Under 30, who were feted Wednesday afternoon in NYC. Colleagues, bosses and family members celebrated their achievements, which range from founding a successful experiential marketing agency to running complex financial transactions for a top US MSO to creating branded entertainment narratives for blue chip brands.

The honorees shared some of the best professional advice they’ve received, including some good counsel that even the industry veterans in the room took note of. Turner’s Jasmine Clennon, senior manager of ad innovation & programmatic solutions, cautioned against equating being busy with producing meaningful output. Mirrored Media founder/CEO Justin Lefkovitch reminded everyone that it’s important to stop and celebrate the little wins along the way. Along those lines, Nat Geo Wild communications manager Molly Mulrainadvocated for stepping back and looking at the big picture. She recalled one moment when boss Jenn DeGuzman stopped her and said, “Molly, it’s PR not the ER.”

Congratulations to all of the 2017 Overachievers! Check out photos from the event in our Facebook album.”

2017 Overachievers Under 30

Justin Lefkovitch

Founder/CEOMirrored Media

Lefkovitch is founder and CEO of experiential marketing agency Mirrored Media, which specializes in creating 360-degree entertainment experiences for major brands and talent. Most recently the company created BMW’s Road to Coachella with Hans Zimmer, a unique partnership that paired the renowned composer and producer with BMW i to create a visually inspiring piece scored by Zimmer himself and enhanced with cameos of major Coachella performers. Mirrored also has partnered with VidCon’s largest brands including Awesomeness, Fullscreen and Live.me, amounting to 19 total activations. Prior to this venture, Lefkovitch was a professional magician. “Through a narrative woven with magic and illusion, I created moments of suspended disbelief and took people to a different place in time. I have harnessed this same storytelling ability through experiential marketing.”

What has been your biggest professional accomplishment to date? I believe my biggest professional accomplishment to date has been the founding of Mirrored Media. While pursuing my undergraduate degree at Pepperdine University, I took a pie in the sky idea and wrote it out as a business plan. That plan became the seed of what Mirrored is today. Along the way, a lot of incredible people have believed in me, my vision, and my idea. I opened the doors to Mirrored Media 6 years ago and have had the absolute pleasure to call some of the best people in the business my partners, colleagues and clients. Since I started the company, Mirrored has ideated and executed award-winning, creative experiential campaigns for some of the largest brands and artists in the world. I’m extremely proud of the team I’ve built and the projects we continue to create.

What attracted you to this industry?I was initially attracted to the industry of experiential marketing before I even knew what experiential marketing was. While working with singer/songwriter Ray Kennedy, I discovered the large gap between artists and the brands trying to work with them. I noticed each side was speaking their own unique language and had their own independent goals in mind. I saw the opportunity for a creative agency middle-man that understood both languages to help create campaigns that spoke to both sides and met both goals. That idea has since turned into Mirrored Media. While our scope of services has expanded, our basic purpose remains the same. We bridge that gap, helping brands connect to their target market through music and entertainment initiatives.

Before my work in music, my foundation in creating experiences was based in magic. As a young adult, I was a professional magician. Through a narrative woven with magic and illusion, I created moments of suspended disbelief and took people to a different place in time. I have harnessed this same storytelling ability through experiential marketing. The creative nature and the possibility for growth are what first attracted me to the space. It’s been exciting and rewarding to help shape the experiential industry as it come to the forefront of marketing and advertising.

Best piece of professional advice you’ve received? Steve McBeth, my mentor and the founding president of Disney Interactive, once told me that it’s better to have a small piece of something large, than a large piece of something small. I have built my company with this in mind. I believe in creating a family that is emotionally invested in the company’s growth and future, bonded as a team who feels proud of each Mirrored success.

In order to highlight BMW’s partnership and employee discount program with Southern California Edison, Mirrored Media teamed up with the automotive giant to present an exclusive activation for SCE team members at their Rosemead, CA location. The BMW Premier Partner Experience gave guests an opportunity to learn more about, and even test drive, the i Series, BMW’s line of hybrid/electric vehicles. With SCE’s continued efforts to develop renewable forms of energy and BMW i’s penchant for innovation and sustainability, these two were the perfect fit.

From 10am – 5pm, registered employees were able to stop by the activation, located on a large portion of the campus’ parking lot, and become fully immersed in the BMW i brand. Upon entering, guests were given BMW-branded reusable water bottles provided by S’well. They were greeted with the two primary models of the BMW i Series, the i8 and i3, on custom on-brand display platforms. Employees were invited to take a seat inside each car, while BMW brand ambassadors were on hand to offer more information and assistance. Guests were also invited to step into the photo booth, which featured a co-branded SCE/BMW step and repeat.

A large branded BMW semi truck provided a backdrop for the VIP lounge. Located adjacent to the truck, and covered by a large BMW canopy, this carpeted area featured several perks for employees to enjoy, including:

Donuts provided by Voodoo Donuts

Gourmet coffee bar

Hint water

Two TVs featuring looped branded content

White lounge furniture

Floral decor and planters

Sound system with music

The highlights of the activation were the three driving experiences. Guests had the opportunity to get behind the wheel of one of nine BMWs, including the i3, M2, M4 Convertible, X4, X5, 530e, or 7 Series, for an exclusive test drive in one of three scenarios:

Accel/Decel: Drivers accelerate rapidly then hit the brakes on a closed course

Slalom: Drivers hug tight corners between cones on a closed course

Neighborhood Drive: Drivers take the car for a spin around the neighborhood streets adjacent to the SCE campus

All cars were affixed with BMW Premier Partner Experience decals and BMW subsidiary MINI even provided several models for guests to drive in the neighborhood scenario.

MINI also had its own footprint within the space, providing a relaxing camping vibe with turf, lawn chairs, and a custom trailer. Additional perks included:

Live.Me Office Launch Party

In October 2017, live broadcasting platform Live.me moved to a spacious, modern new office in West Hollywood. Mirrored Media played an integral part in curating, designing, and installing many of the space’s new features.

The new Live.me office is not just a workspace, but also a hub for creators and influencers to film and generate content. In the large front room, our team installed a large pink stage with printed SEG graphic walls, which acts as a focal point of the space and one of two major areas for content. The other is an Met Gala-inspired LED photo booth that is built seamlessly under the stairs. This mirrored reflective booth contains strips of programmable colored LED lights in a mesmerizing pattern, creating an endless light design that allows for a unique, shareable photo opp. The office also houses an arcade-style claw machine built to Live.me specifications, presenting the perfect opportunity to give away premiums and other swag in a fun way.

In the rear lounge, a floating and rotating 3D Live.me hologram sits just above the doorway. This fully-programmable hologram unit can display any type of 3D design, giving Live.me an endless amount of creative possibilities for different occasions.

Once the new office was up and running, Live.me wanted to throw a party to celebrate. As it was just a few days before Halloween, they teamed up with Mirrored to host a themed costume party. The invite-only bash featured music from DJ William Lifestyle on the new stage, programmed light trees and moving heads, a custom sound system installation, and a myriad of zombies, ghouls, spiderwebs, and other spooky decor.